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Apr 23, 2014

Wednesday, April 23, 2014 Matt Skoczen

Theme: Suddenly it all becomes clear, or Bring on the V-8 can. Each two word theme entry starts with the letters A, and HA, respectively, and represents the unifier in a literal way. Without the unifier, there would have been no AHA MOMENT for me. I can't think of anything else these four entries might have in common.

17A. "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" collaborator : ALEX HALEY. More famous for ROOTS, perhaps.

24A. "The helpful place" sloganeer : ACE HARDWARE. Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man.

36A. Many a circus employee : ANIMAL HANDLER. Somebody has to clean up after the elephants.

53A. Wayne Manor resident : AUNT HARRIET. I know nothing about this character. Do they keep her locked in the attic?

And the unifier - 62A. Light-bulb-over-the-head instance, and a hint to 17-, 24-, 36- and 53-Across : AHA MOMENT.

Hi
Gang, JzB reporting for duty. It's been over three months since the
Christian Feast of the Epiphany, but that doesn't mean we can't have our
own little experiences of sudden and striking realization.
I had one once in a graduate level class on organic photochemistry. I
was spinning my wheels for half the term, then suddenly one day I got
it. Then I couldn't understand why I had ever thought it was hard.
Baffling experience. Let's see if we can find any startling
revelations in today's puzzle.

Across:

1. Spice organizer : RACK.
You can alphabetize your spice jars on a wooden structure specifically
defined for that purpose. Or you can randomly place them on a lazy
susan, as I do, and hope for the best.

5. 48-Across brand : SOBE. An abbreviation of SOuth BEach,
as in Miami's upscale area. They make teas, fruit-juice blends and
enhanced water beverages, and are owned by PepsiCo. Along with 48. Iced
drink : TEA. Tin Man - Is ice in tea acceptable?

I really wanted to like this one, but even after getting the AHA MOMENT it left me a bit cold. AUNT HARRIET? Seriously? And PHR? Ugh.

I struggled the most up North where (a) I didn't think of ALEX HALEY for quite awhile and tried ALEX HARDY instead (despite not knowing who that was either), (b) I went with EVEN instead of TIED and (c) had PECAN instead of BEECH. Whole lotta fail in such a small section. The fact that I don't drink Iced Tea and couldn't think of SOBE at first didn't help matters. And then there was my reluctance to accept PHR...

I did finally stick in TIED and then thought of ALEX HALEY, which got me going up there. But still, PHR?

Good Morning, Jazzbumpa and friends. Eureka! I Think I've Got It!! I had fun with todays puzzle. I got the theme answers before getting to the unifier. In fact, getting the other answers actually helped me with the unifier.

Behind = REAR END was my favorite clue. It was a great clue to start the puzzle and made me laugh out loud.

Hand up for wanting IPO before LBO.

Mt. Sunflower is 4,039 above sea level. The highest point in my state is only 535 feet above sea level. What is the highest point in your state?

Anyone remember this 1973 Twisted song which references two heads being better than one?

QOD: Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we are ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve. ~ Max Planck (Apr. 23, 1853 ~ Oct. 4, 1947)

Fun write-up today, and I think I enjoyed it even more than I did the puzzle. Thanks Jazzb! I did have an AHA moment when I looked at the first three theme entries. (OK, so I was a little slow on the uptake this morning!) Had no clue who AUNT HARRIET was, but knowing that it would be A * HA * helped tremendously.

I never knew that ADIDAS was a German brand. I did some investigation, and now I will remember its founder: Adolf’s nickname was ADI – and his last name was DAS-sler. Interesting backstory on how the company got its big break – he traveled to the 1936 Olympics and persuaded Jesse Owens to wear a pair of his spikes. The rest, as you know, is history!

Hand up for thinking IPO and PECAN at first, and not liking PHR or plural NUS (as clued). But the rest was pretty smooth sailing.

Let's see, it's been days and days (well, three actually) since we've had a Matt Skoczen puzzle. I came here expecting a DNF, because I couldn't believe that SOBE was a brand of tea.

My grid is correct, but it's a mess. I started with ANIMAL TRAINER and RELIGION. And it didn't help that I put MCS in the wrong spot. Thought the clue for MATH was cute. Thought the "Pt. of a sentence" was the point -- period (PER).

JzB, YEOMEN is just of many naval enlisted spcialties. Yeomen perform clerical duties, and their specialty is designated by "crossed quills" -- between the eagle and chevron(s) on the NCO's shoulder. If Radar O'Reilly had been in the Navy, he would've been a Yeoman.

Thank you Matt Skoczen. Not an easy puzzle when working it with a serious lack of sleep. KIA and CECE in the southeast filled only due to taking out RELIGION since I couldn't make any crossing words with its last 4 letters. Finally got RELIANCE and then later, EVEN KEEL. KAN really helped. Mt Sunflower ought to exist in the Sunflower State, don't you think ? Speaking of RELIANCE, I have no faith that the Astros are going to make the playoffs this year.

BTW, Happy Birthday Wrigley. Cubs won't make the playoffs this year either. None the less, big birthday party today.

In the northeast, I stumbled for the longest time with IPO rather than LBO. Even though I BARS would be a stretch, PEDEW made no sense. Got it with the P to B change.

Never heard of SOBE TEA in the north central, but it had tobe. In the northwest, ALLELUIA was new to me, but I only needed the U and that was a wag with NUS.

Thank you JzB. Excellent write up. As always. Can't say that I've ever seen a Nissan Skyline before. Don't know that I would be able to identify one after studying that picture.

JzB, very witty and informative blog. One of your best. This was a little crunchy for a Wed. but very perpable. I much prefer this type of puzzle to the type where you fill in the blanks with the first word that comes to mind and you're done lickety split with no need to think at all.I wagged the AUN in AUNT HARRIET. The other letters were already filled. Although I didn't know of her, it seems a fair fill. The movie was not mentioned in the clue. She appeared regularly in comics and one full season on TV. Her character was phased out due to the actress's ill health.Although I drink plenty of iced tea, I never heard of SOBE. Fair again, because of the perps.I thought of STN as the happy destination of the homeward bound commuter's train ride.The P in PHR was the last to fill. My response was AHA. V-8 can moment.PEPTO before BROMO. Had the L so didn't think of IPO. PECAN before BEECH. We had beech trees on our elementary school playground. We used to pick the nuts and peel them for a treaT.HeartRx, interesting about ADIDAS.

Rats! The link keeps breaking. Here it is.If ownership is separate, make each noun possessive by adding the appropriate apostrophe or an apostrophe and an s: During Christmas break, I'll be staying at my brother's and my sister's houses. The brother and sister separately own separate houses.

If ownership is shared, make only the final noun possessive: Every year, I visit my mom and dad's winter cottage and summer house. Mom and dad jointly own both residences.

At first I thought PT meant point. Then I realized that PT here stands for PART, a phrase is a part of a sentence. That was the V8 can moment.

The commuter's destination for that particular ride is where he disembarks from the train, i.e. the station. The station may not be his final destination (home or office), but it is his destination for that ride.In the same way the destination of my flight to Chicago is a terminal at O HARE, but the destination of the whole trip is my sister's home.

This offering from Matt S. was far more to my liking than Sunday's referential roller coaster. Hand up for IPO/LBO and religion/reliance. Didn't care for phr or bedew. Nice shout out to Spitz and Splynter with RPI.

Nice job, Matt, and thanks to JazzB for a wonderfully witty write-up. BTW, that picture of Jude Law shows a nice head of hair that is no longer there.

Nasty day here today: cold, windy and rainy. Oh well, hope it's nicer where the rest of the Corner lives. Have a good one.

Good morning Bumpa and all,Hand up for religion and ten am.Lots of ah ha's in your amusing write up.The theme actually helped me decipher Aunt Harriet.Still not fond of abbreviations, yet I do see the necessity of using them.

I’m subbing for dollars today in MATH and am just now getting to blog. This school allows getting to blogspot, others, not so much. I saw A___H___ but not the other A until I arrived here. Fun puzzle and write-up. Never heard of SOBE, not ELHI until I came here and PHR…

Musings-If you want and AHA moment, look at this image gently cross and uncross your eyes and an amazing 3-D image will appear. My first AHA moment took about 7 minutes and then I bought a book of them.-Fav knock knock joke with granddaughter is, Knock, knock. Who’s there? Olive. Olive who? [You finish]-Male guards of the HAREM are, uh, surgically altered. Talk about taking one for the team.-If you add up the number of confirmed sightings of the YETI, Sasquatch and Nessie, what do you get?-If you’re workin’ Nine to Five, 10 am seems to be early for a break-Jazz, you shoulda put a picture of a car’s REAR END in that picture too.-A HEAP for everything and everything in its HEAP. My college motto!-Girls in the 60’s didn’t REHEM, they just rolled up the waist band when they were out of mom’s sight.-Wonderful video (4:00) of Fr. Ray Kelly singing (H)ALLEULIA from the wedding at an altar. You will love it!-Dang, somebody let some HS juniors in. Read y’all later.

Sometimes we need to remember what the late Dan Naddor taught us - that sometimes the price of a good them and some good fill is some filler fill to fill in the fillets.

Yes there was some of that in this puzzle, but I think BEDEW and IN TOTO are perfectly cromulent.

The highest point in MI is Mt. Arvon [1979 ft], way off near the Keweenaw Peninsula in the U. P. The highest point in my home state is Campbell Hill [1550 ft,] in Bellefontaine [which is pronounced Bell Fountain.]

Wings are looking like toast at this point. They just can't score. Tigers almost blew a big lead in the 9th and made last night's game way too exciting. Phil Coke has got to go, I'm afraid. Poor guy was holding big tears as he walked back to the dugout.

It's a fundamental law of nature that no two Detroit teas can win on the same day.

Musings 2-I am subbing for my nephew whose wife delivered Grace Elizabeth into the world yesterday. He said, “Gary, just do anything you want with my students” and so guess who’s getting NASA stories and web sites today?-The highest point in Nebraska is Panorama Point and it is only slightly higher than the surrounding prairie. Ya gotta love this guy making the summit!-Can you find the ADIDAS logo in this lovely picture?-Where does it switch from PUH KAWN’ to PEE’ CAN?

My goodness, this sure was a Wednesday toughie. I didn't think I would get through it for the longest time, and when I finally did I still turned out to have some errors. For example, I had T BAR instead of L BAR (well, it has a right angle, doesn't it?) and I of course didn't know that Wall Street thing. But I did get the theme at some point and that helped me get ALEX HALEY. Anyway, it was nice to come to the Corner and see all the great pix on JazzB's expo. And I too thought REHEM had a clever clue.

Ah, PUERTO Vallarta! What a lovely place. I'm so glad we had a chance to visit there twice before my husband's stroke. We stayed in a modest hotel in the old town, right on the beach, and loved the sweet people there. Happy memories!

This was more like a thursday or friday puzzle. 10 abbrv answers. Finished it but it wasnt fun. Aunt Harriet was played by Mrs Mondello (Madge Blake) from "Leave It To Beaver." They were going to cut her out early in first season but the main actors protested so the producers let her stay.

Thought it was fun...initially had eelier for oilier, never heard of Sobe, so that made sense to me til I got to neck and neck. Didn't care for phr. Thought Aunt Harriet was kind of cute, brought back a way-buried childhood memory. I do believe yesterday was the anniversary of the start of the Oklahoma Land Rush, so Okies was very apprapo. Have a great day!

A 'just right' puzzle for Wednesday. Got the unifier and used the A - HA hint to start several of the theme fills. Cool beans. Some good 'anchors' like SWEDEN and PUERTO helped. No searches needed but I did have to white-out pecan to insert BEECH.D-OTTO explained YEOMEN well. Thanks.

RPI Alma Mater:

"Here's to old RPI, her fame may never die.Here's to old Rensselaer, she stands today without a peer.Here's to those olden days,Here's to those golden days,Here's to the friends we made at dear old RPI."

Never thought about it but I guess colleges are feminine, just like ships.

Did this in the newspaper while going to Chicago. Went to the annual meeting of General Electric Co. I am not a shareholder, but my Lodge is and I am the treasurer, so I was invited. Never been to one of these in my life. Very interesting.

The puzzle was outstanding. Easily gotnstarted up North, except for SO BE. Eventually got it with perps.

REAR END was easy. Good clues.

OKIES was easy. I have been to Oklahoma a couple times. One was a funeral of a good friend.

I never thought of a calf-roping loop as a NOOSE. To me a noose is something you hang somebody with. Anyhow, I got it.

I didn't care for SOBE or PHR. I did enjoy MATH and REHIM as per Mari and others who came first. So WEES. Thanks Matt and JzB.(Good embedded photos!) I had a good time with this as I do with almost all LAT puzzles. Thanks Rich and CC!

The highest point in Colorado is Mt Elbert 14,433 Ft and the lowest is where the Arkansas River exits into Kansas at 3300 Ft. We live 10 miles from Pikes Peak which is 14,115 Ft. Our house is at 6,413 Ft.

Today's newspaper had an ACE HARDWARE sales flyer in it that I was looking at when I came to that clue. Easy fill in.

The highest mountain in Pennslyvania is Mount Davis at 3,213 feet in Somerset county in the southeast part of the state near the Mason Dixon line. The mountains where I live in the center of the state range up to about 2400 feet. I grew up in the mountains of PA and didn't really know what flat land was like until I bought a beach house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The high point in Ocean City, MD is 7 feet (at high tide).

Hi Y'all! I had several AHA MOMENTS with this puzzle and a few more WTHs. WEES. Good one, Matt. Very witty, JzB!

I knew the highest point in KANsas was near the Colorado border. I have driven past the turn-off to it countless times. Never knew it was called Mt. Sunflower.

My son's family just returned from a spring break trip to Puerto Vallarta which his wife won through work.

Didn't know either Wayne Manor or Aunt Harriet. All perps. My oldest daughter was about 3 yrs. old when Batman masks were a fad and she was terrified by them. I had a friend with a daughter who would get tired of entertaining my child when we were there. She'd put on her batman mask and my kid would start screaming bloody murder and trying to get out the front door. I'd just wave goodby and haul her out to the car. She'd scream all the way home. We couldn't go near a toy section in a store where batman might lurk. We had no batman stuff at our house. Ever.

The highest point in NJ is High Point State Park at Point Jervis at 1803 ft. Like oc4beach I grew up in Pa with no flat land, all hills. We did not have the very rugged mountains of the western states, or even WV, but we loved the so-called mountains. On my first road trip to see my sister in the Chicago area I was flummoxed by the flat landscape of parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. We walked one of her parks and were warned of a HILL!! in an area much flatter than the street where I live now. Later we traveled from the Chicago suburbs to the Lincoln attractions in Springfield and were again surprised at the extremely flat land. During two weeks hiking in Scotland we traversed many hills and mountains, but there were many wide vistas and open spaces, even in the foothills. Upon returning to NJ I was surprised to feel hemmed in without the wide open vistas, but I soon became accustomed to the NJ hills again.

We have vacationed in the mountains and hollows of WV every summer for more than 40 years. I love the mountains.Not a flat lander.

No aha moment for me... DNF because I have never heard of Sobe, & I thought 6d, more slippery might be "wilier." I knew SWBE was wrong, but I just could not come up with anything better. LBO & PHR were below the belt, but filled in by perps.

Happy B'day, Wrigley Field. Thanks for bringing it up, TTP. I have no particular reason to root for the Cubs, but they are a phenomenon in a country of exceptionalism and ever-hopeful winners. The Cubs break the nold. My own pedagogical theories have a lot to do with "embracing failure," a belief that artists (and so why not athletes?) are autodidacts who learn chiefly from their failure. Think of growth as "correcting for error" or "recovery from catastrophe." But then the Cubs give the lie to the whole theory, don't they? There is no natural pattern to which they adhere, right? Must devotees and fans of the Cubs resort to superstition? I am a novice here, so need help. Is there... a curse?

Lots to like about this puzzle, but plenty of nits as well. Liked most of the fill and had a few learning moments. Fell into the IPO/LBO and pecan/beech traps, but they sorted themselves out. Had no clue on SoBe, but perps made it so. Aunt Harriet? Who knew? But again those perps dictated. However, once completed, the payoff was a mouth full of feathers. Not enough there there to seem worthwhile.

Keith, I'm not enough of a sports fan to have an opinion worth heeding, but my feelings on the Cubs are that they are the ultimate Average Joe team in the land (not intended as a narcissistic self-reference). And that's especially true of their fans. Regardless of the record, they all maintain everlasting hope. You have to love it.

The highest peak in Arizona is Humphrey's Peak, 12,633 ft. It is part of the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff and part of a group of extinct volcanoes. Skiing is popular there in winter and in summer it offers a respite from the heat in the lower elevations.

Just back from seeing Heaven is for Real, a very good movie with Greg Kennear.

I've never been a big Batman fan so AUNT HARRIET was new for me but easy enough to perp.

"Harriet Cooper, best known simply as Aunt Harriet from the Batman television series, is a character that first appeared in the comic book Detective Comics #328 (June 1964).Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff, the character is the maternal aunt of Bruce Wayne's ward, Dick Grayson."

and

"Despite the longstanding legend that the character was created for the television series to reduce the potential for homosexual interpretations of the Wayne/Grayson relationship, the character had actually been created two years earlier for the comic book. Some details from the television series (her last name, her status as a widow) were added to the comic stories in Detective Comics #373. "

Of all that I am, which is substantially far less than what I am not, being a Cubs fan is not one.

There are some real fanatics in this town though, and some of them really do have that "wait-until-next-year" belief. As if.

On the other hand, they do appear to have one of the better farm systems in terms of talent that's developing, but still...

For the Wrigley Field birthday party today, the Cubs donned throwback uniforms of 100 years ago, playing as the Chicago Federals, and their opponent was the Kansas City Packers, played by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Par for the course of the "lovable losers"... they managed to lose after blowing a 5 to 2 lead in the top of the ninth by giving up 4 runs, and quickly bowing out in the bottom of the inning on three quick outs.

BTW, the Diamondbacks had only won 5 games all season until today. Worst record in MLB.

I don't "get" the Cubs phenomenon, nor the national fan base, other than that they are perennial underdogs.

I don't dislike them but I am not a fan. With all the free TV coverage of Cubs games, I get to see a lot of the teams I want to watch.

Interestingly enough, my students are on average 19 years old, and 39 students argued that it is NOT acceptable to break up with a text while 10 students said it is acceptable (and 1 student has not yet turned in his paper, which is a surprisingly low number in of itself). Unfortunately, now that the fun part of tallying up their theses is done, I must slap some actual comments on these puppies.

That same lack of sleep affected my association of team and stadium. Of course the 'stros play in Minute Maid, and the Texans play in RELIANCE, nay, Reliant Stadium. D'oh !

OC4, yes, the whole area... Mt Davis (highest point), Ohiopyle (great state park), Ft Necessity (where G Washington lost his only battle), Seven Springs (great ski runs), Flight 93, and of course, the area was also home of the Whiskey Rebellion. We've all been taxed ever since.

Husker: Thanks for the stereogram. Love the things because the rest/exercise my eyes, cut down the eyestrain from looking at a screen all day. It's also a good technique for spot-the-differences puzzles.

Actually, I think with the HAREM guards, they take TWO for the team. Just take one and you've got a unique eunuch. While he's a virgin, he could ride a unicorn! (Hmm, could that be a puzzle theme?)